Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. V. Browning to Rupert Brooke

George Meredith (1828–1909)

Youth in Age

ONCE I was part of the music I heard

On the boughs or sweet between earth and sky,

For joy of the beating of wings on high

My heart shot into the breast of the bird.

I hear it now and I see it fly,

And a life in wrinkles again is stirred,

My heart shoots into the breast of the bird,

As it will for sheer love still the last long sigh.